Shadowed Scars
by m00ny
Summary: It's year 5 and the new professor is cloaked in mysteries: Is he a wizard- or just a squib? Why don't the other teachers talk to him? Was he once a Death Eater? Is he still?


Ginny was alone in the girl's dormitory. She was humming and jotting casually in her diary about her day. She got a few chuckles as she related a few events that had turned her rotten day around. Her dear brother Ron had noticed she was down and begun a juggling act at dinner and had dropped all three apples onto the floor. Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy- followed by of course, Crabbe and Goyle, were walking by and Malfoy tripped on one and hit his elbow. The whole of Grinffindor table laughed terribly at the sight and Snape tried to give Ron a detention for trying to sabotage to the Slytherin Seeker before the match, but Professor Arlen said because it was an accident, Ron shouldn't be punished. Ginny jumped and quickly finished her previous thought before writing in about her first lesson of Defense Against the Dark Arts for her fourth term at Hogwarts and her lessons so far.  
  
When the Griffindors arrived in class Professor Arlen was sitting up at his desk thumbing through the pages of a thick leather-bound manuscript looking deeply interested. He had this long dark hair that was usually kept in a ponytail but was now come loose and fell over his face- shadowing his dark eyes. Ginny had mixed feelings about this new teacher. He hardly seemed social when she saw him at dinners but the students who'd already had him earlier in the week said he was great. He looked rather startling to Ginny- even from a distance- but she had to admit it was an improvement upon last year's Mad-Eye Moody.  
  
The students filed into the classroom but were unsure of what exactly they were to do. They looked around at each other with curious glances and some whispered, but the muddled and confused voices of his students didn't seem to haze Professor Arlen. On he kept reading. At first Ginny thought he might have fallen asleep in a position resembling him reading- chin propped up in one palm and the other across the page, but she promptly erased the thought as the dark figure of Arlen stirred as he turned the page. The students looked up at him as he moved, but even-still he didn't acknowledge their presence.  
  
In all the quiet- the door suddenly swung open and a white-faced Collin Creevy ran into the room- panting and looking frantic. His book-bag seemed to have torn and he was carrying a few books in his arms, parchment and a bottle of ink. He stopped however and peered curiously at the mass of standing students. The other Griffindor students turned around and looked at Collin. In a shy and timid voice he asked, "What're we doing?"  
  
"Taking your seats- I do believe."  
  
All the students looked up to where the voice had come from- the front. It was obvious Collin's entrance had brought the man back to his students and he was standing now. Ginny anxiously looked him through. She hadn't seen him this close before. He wore a black outer-robe that fell passed his feet and folded on the floor and underneath they could see faded gray ones. His arms were folded over his chest and he was wearing long white sleeves and a pair of black gloves. His face was the only skin they could see and it was strikingly pale- like he hadn't seen the sun all summer. But his eyes- Ginny was caught breathless. They were faded and tired looking but at the same time sharp and striking. All the students were still taking him in- his darkness and the contrasting white in his skin and shirt. Ginny found herself shivering. She withdrew her previous opinion of him. He was just as dark and scary as Mad Eye Moody- if not worse.  
  
Despite his appearance, Ginny was pleasantly surprised to find for herself that Professor Arlen was a wonderfully talented teacher. He taught them thoroughly and quickly and perpetually. She learned more from his first lesson than she did from Lockheart- her first Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher- all year. He was younger than she expected and fairly enthusiastic as well. His friendliness often reminded Ginny of Professor Lupin from her second year.  
  
As Ginny closed her diary- proceeding her comparison to Lupin and Arlen, she tossed it into her trunk and stepped out of the dormitory door and down the steps to the common. As she expected, Ron and Harry were down there and playing games- Gobstones actually. Hermoine was complaining about their racket and asking them to quiet down as she finished her homework. Her other two brothers, Fred and George, were coaxing a first year to eat one of their treats, but the girl had already been warned and promptly refused. They both looked rejected and decided to try another gullible-looking first year to test their masterpieces on.  
  
Everything was just as it usually was and Ginny sighed. Ron saw her at the stairs and called her over. "What's up," Ron asked casually as she neared. He was rounding up the Gobstones game after winning again. Ginny sat down next to him and said that "nothing was up" but that she was just thinking.  
  
Harry was finished feeling sorry for himself and his loosing streak, and looked up at Ginny. "What about?"  
  
Ginny saw Harry looking at her and she looked away- aware she was going pink in the face. It's not as if she liked him much anymore. Maybe a little, but she felt more embarrassed that she'd liked him for so long before and he'd known all along. After a moment, she'd recollected herself and could look at Harry without falling to pinkish pieces. "Nothing really. About our new teacher mainly."  
  
Ron gave his little sister a quizzical look. "Were you raving about him again in your diary?"  
  
"I beg your pardon!" Ginny was going red again- but this time she was angry. "Have you been reading my diary?" She moved away from him before he could answer and sat beside Hermoine on the bench by the table- leering at her brother. Ron insisted he hadn't and that he was only joking, but Ginny wasn't convinced. She walked away and began to chat with her twin brothers across the room.  
  
Ron stared after her. "Man- she's moody lately. One moment she's fine and the next she's not talking to me." Harry then proceeded to point out that Ginny had always been that way, but Ron pretended not to hear him and said they ought to go into the boy's dormitory to talk. He elbowed Harry when he'd protested. "I think Snape's up to something," he said in an undertone and led the way upstairs. 


End file.
